Attorney General Hails Revenge Porn Conviction

SAN DIEGO (CN)-California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Tuesday hailed the state’s first criminal conviction for revenge porn as a warning to others not to try it. Kevin Bollaert was convicted Monday of six counts of extortion and 21 counts of identity theft, in San Diego Superior Court. He faces up to 20 years in prison. Harris said Tuesday that prison is where he belongs. “If you run a website like this, you’re going to go to prison,” Harris said in a statement. “Just because you’re sitting behind a computer, committing what is essentially a cowardly and criminal act, you will not be shielded from the law or jail.” Kevin Christopher Bollaert, 27, of San Diego, was arrested in December 2013. He ran the revenge porn site ugotposted.com, on which people could post nude and explicit photos. “Unlike many other revenge porn websites where the subject of the photos is anonymous, ugotposted.com required that the poster include the subject’s full name, location, age and Facebook profile link,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. “As a result, the victims experienced severe harassment through social media, at their places of work and in other communities.” Bollaert then created and ran a second website, changemyreputation.com, which he used to extort victims who complained about being posted on ugotposted, the attorney general said. He charged $250 to $350 from removing revenge porn, and took the money through PayPal. He made about $30,000 from it, the attorney general said. Awaiting trial on five counts of felony extortion is Casey E. Meyering, 28, of Tulsa, Okla., according to the attorney general. His trial is to begin on Feb. 23. Revenge porn is also known as cyber-exploitation.